The empty lots, located along 105 Ave downtown, have been designated for the project (Photo: Emily Keller)

By Emily Keller

supportive housing

City designates land for upcoming supportive housing project

Jun 17, 2020 | 2:55 PM

The City’s new supportive housing project is going forward. Previously, the City ran a pilot project for housing at the Parkside Inn, which is to end in October.

At Monday’s Council meeting, it was decided to approve land designation for a potential spot for the housing project to go and allocated $400,000 to the project to indicate the City’s support.

Katherine Schmidt, Housing and Homelessness Supervisor for the City, says that these are a few of the first steps that need to be made to submit their proposal to the province for a grant agreement.

“We’ve been looking around the city for appropriate sites, and a preliminary site has come up that we think could meet the need, and so we’re actually just going to Council, getting the designation of land, and then starting on the next steps to be able to move this project forward.”

The City will also need to have evidence that other funding sources were explored, confirmation of support from the Grande Spirit Foundation for project management, and confirmation from Alberta Health Services for in-reach support. So far, a letter of confirmation from the Grande Spirit Foundation has been secured, and confirmation from AHS is still pending.

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

Schmidt says through the previous pilot project at the Parkside Inn, which lasted for two years, the Community Advisory Board on Housing and Homelessness (CABH), and the City’s Housing First initiative, they learned that housing is a continuum.

“We have everything from an emergency shelter all the way up to a permanent home for individuals, and we’ve learned that different individuals need different levels of support services, so we’re looking at this particular building, including having on-site medical and social service resources.”

“We need to have land in order for us to go back to the province and say we’re committed as a City, to being able to move this project forward,” said Schmidt, “So next steps really are that we need to go out and do that community engagement and neighbourhood input into this particular site.”

She adds that zoning changes, site engineering and a design phase will also happen before construction can begin.